Marathon Game Ends in 11-10 Win

Senior Tracee Hoch hit a two-run homer that gave BYU the lead for good. (Photo by Mark Philbrick/BYU Photo)

FORT COLLINS -- BYU (37-17, 13-3) bounced back from its first loss in 16 games with an 11-10 victory over Colorado State (27-27, 6-9).

Coming off Friday's loss, the Cougars were faced with an initial 45-minute weather delay to the start of the game, a 90-minute lightning delay in the top of the fifth and the loss of what had been a six-run lead midway through the game.

"It's a tribute to the character of our team to not give up through all the delays and adversity that happened today," BYU head coach Gordon Eakin said. "Colorado State is an extremely aggressive opponent on their field, and we could have quit many, many times today but we didn't."

BYU got a quick jump on the Rams with a six-run first inning. Emi Snow's three-run homer, her 15th home run of the season, gave BYU a 3-0 lead. Tracee Hoch, Dani Urincho-Snow and Angeline Quiocho all scored unearned runs to round out the inning.

Allison Majam and Stacey Leigh both hit RBI-doubles in the bottom of the order to cut the Cougars' lead down to four. The score would remain the same until the Rams fired off on a six-run inning of their own in the third.

Ashley Munoz started the rally with a lead-off home run to centerfield. Later in the inning, Shannon Causgrove hit a two-out grand slam that gave Colorado State its first lead of the game at 7-6. Lauren Cusick followed her teammate with a solo shot to left field, putting BYU behind 8-6 heading into the fourth.

Sophomore Andrea Ramirez tied things up for BYU with a two-RBI single in the fifth that scored Snow and Jodi Norton. That's when the lightning set in. After the 90-minute intermission, Hoch hammered a two-run homer to left center to recapture the lead for the Cougars at 10-8. An unearned CSU run in the sixth and a Urincho-Snow dinger in the top of the seventh gave BYU an 11-9 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.

Leigh hit a single up the middle, driving in Cusick for the 11-10 final.

The Cougars head to Orem, Utah to face Utah Valley State on Tuesday. Game time is set for 4 p.m. (MST).